Payton Pritchard not happy with Jaylen Brown’s All-NBA ‘snub’ 

Jaylen Brown put together another impressive season on a deep Celtics roster in 2023-24.

Even with the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday sapping some of Brown’s scoring output this year, the 27-year-old swingman still scored 23.0 points per game, sank a career-best 49.9% of his shots, and averaged 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals. 

But after earning All-NBA Second Team honors last season, Brown found himself on the outside looking in at any All-NBA accolades in 2023-24. 

Jayson Tatum (First Team) was the only Celtics player to earn one of the 15 All-NBA spots this year, with Brown finishing just 20 points behind Suns guard Devin Booker for the final spot on the All-NBA Third Team.

It was a tough break for Brown, with his omission not sitting well with his teammate, Payton Pritchard. 

“JB, that’s a snub, for sure,” Pritchard said on Thursday afternoon, per video from CLNS Media. “I don’t understand how you can be the No. 1 team by a wide margin and only have one fella. JB’s been terrific all year. Two-way player. He definitely deserves to be on there.”

Brown validated his standing as an elite two-way player during Tuesday’s Game 1 overtime victory — forcing a Pacers turnover off an errant inbound pass before drilling a game-tying 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. 

Brown should have plenty of motivation entering Game 2 against the Pacers on Thursday night to prove his value as a top-flight NBA star, but Joe Mazzulla acknowledged ahead of tip-off that Brown is not focused on individual accolades — not at this juncture on the NBA calendar. 

“I don’t have to. He’s a very mature guy. … He has a great outlook on life,” Mazzulla said when asked if he had any words of encouragement for Brown after getting snubbed. “He knows what’s important and what’s not. He works really hard and he knows who he is as a person and a player, so that’s the most important thing.”